1. Technical Field
Example embodiments of the present invention relate in general to a device driver, and more particularly, to a system and method for providing a remote device driver for driving a device connected through universal serial bus (USB).
2. Related Art
As the standard of input/output (I/O) interfaces connecting computers with peripherals, a USB interface has advantages such as ease of use, high-speed communication, high stability, generality, low implementation cost, low power consumption, and support for various operating systems (OSs).
Due to these advantages, the USB interface is being widely used as a connection means of a digital camera, an external storage device, a mobile communication terminal, etc. as well as computer I/O devices, such as a keyboard, mouse, printer and scanner.
A computer and peripherals connected through the USB interface operate as a host and devices, respectively. A plurality of devices may be connected to one host.
Lately, with the development of processors, memory technology and communication technology, a mobile communication terminal having voice and video telephony functions, and also various functions such as still photography, motion picture photography, and Internet access, has been commercialized, and the USB interface with excellent communication speed, convenience, generality and extendability is used as a communication means between a personal computer (PC) and a mobile communication terminal.
For example, when a user upgrades an OS or firmware installed on a mobile communication terminal, or installs, removes or updates an application in the mobile communication terminal while using the mobile communication terminal, the user should first connect the mobile communication terminal to a computer through the USB interface, and then perform a desired operation through the computer.
At this time, the device driver of the mobile communication terminal should be installed on the computer such that the computer can recognize the mobile communication terminal as a USB device and perform normal communication after the computer and the mobile communication terminal are physically connected through the USB interface.
Since it is practically impossible to include the device drivers of all mobile communication terminals that are currently on sale in the OS of a computer, a user of a mobile communication terminal should obtain and install in person a device driver provided by the manufacturer or a seller of the corresponding device in a computer. Due to the ongoing advancement of functions of a mobile communication terminal, the process of installing a device driver in a computer is also becoming complex.
However, most users physically connect mobile communication terminals to computers through USB and install device drivers. Since most users do not accurately know the process of controlling mobile communication terminals through computers, there is inconvenience in use. Also, when the aforementioned process is incorrectly performed, there is a high probability that data stored in a mobile communication terminal will be deleted, or a serious error will occur.